We visited the town of Mandvi, where Smruti's family used to live before moving to Bombay! We saw the shipyard where wooden boats are built to this day. We also visited the beach and toured the erstwhile king's residence (Vijay Vilas) where some scenes from Lagaan were shot.
We spent a few days in and around Bhuj, a city that was devastated by the 2001 earthquake in which over 20,000 people died. Bhuj is being rebuilt, in part, but many of the historical monuments have become unstable. We visited the Prag Mahal which was the home of the king of Kutch, once upon a time. Prag Mahal was used (prior to the earthquake) as a site for the shooting of Lagaan, a hit Bollywood movie released in 2001. The insides of the Prag mahal are filled with bird droppings and dusty animal trophies, including the hippo that's threatening to bit of Smruti's arm in this photo. The nearby Aina mahal is in somewhat better shape.
About 50 kilometers north of Bhuj is the Rann of Kutch, a large marshy region in Gujarat that borders the Sindh region of Pakistan. The Rann consists of vaste swathes of flat arid land. The main attraction is the wild ass of the Rann of Kutch, seen here in all its glory. I could swear that I see a horn on its nose in this photo , which would, of course, turn the ass into a unicorn and make me the first person in the history of mankind to see a unicorn.
We visited Hudka, a village in the Rann, to look for good Kutchee embroidered pieces. The government and NGO's are encouraging the local handicraft industry. While Hudka did not turn up anything that we wanted to get, we ended up getting another piece from a place in Bhuj that had 16 types of embroidery on it (photo above). We also visited a women's cooperative (WAMA) which was taking these local designs, modernizing them and then selling various items (handbags, clothes, cushion covers etc.) into the European and US markets. Apparently, the local designs only have a niche market whereas the modernized designs have a very broad market in the West.
We wished we could have visited Dholavira also, a site from the Indus Valley Civilazation from 3000BC. Unfortunately, Dholavira over 200 kilometers away and we did not have enough time to go there.
- Dev
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